Workers caught smiling
Lenoir County Smiles is a program that recognizes “customer service beyond expectations.”
Weekly winners are chosen by recommendations from the community, receive a small gift and are pictured in the Sunday edition of The Free Press, from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This is the eighth year of the program, which began in 2006 to foster"good, friendly service with a Smile" The program is sponsored by Lenoir County Tourism and The Free Press.
This week’s Lenoir County Smiles recipient is Crystal Taylor with Servpro of Lenoir-Jones & Duplin County.
To nominate someone, contact Lucy Marston, Lenoir County Tourism director, at the Kinston-Lenoir County Visitor’s and Information Center, 252-522-0004 or lenoircountytourism@suddenlinkmail.com.
Library to host new author
Angela Belcher Epps will visit the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library at 6:30 p.m. July 23 to discuss her book, “Salt in the Sugar Bowl.”
The book takes a snapshot of each of the matriarch’s six offspring — years after their mother’s disappearance. The years have passed, but the wound of losing a mother will resurface time and time again as they struggle to live, love and trust, as if their hearts were whole and unscarred.
Epps, a high school English teacher, explores the complexities of life in her writings — love, family relationships, loss and abandonment. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from Hofstra University and a master’s degree in English/creative writing from New York University. Her stories and essays have appeared in several publications, including “Essence,” “Ladies’ Home Journal,” and “Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora.”
The New York native spent much of her early childhood in Eastern North Carolina and now lives in Raleigh. “Women are problem solving all the time,” Epps said. “I want to use my stories to generate discussions about the things that trouble us — that keep us from getting enough satisfaction out of our days.”
“Salt in the Sugar Bowl” is the book of the month for the Urban Literature Book Club, which meets fourth Tuesdays at the library. Books are available for check out. For more information on the book club, or other library events, contact Antuan Hawkins at 252-527-7066, ext. 120 or visit neuselibrary.org.